The Jefferson Highway
Some Interesting Facts:
The Jefferson Highway was founded in 1915 and opened in July 1916.
The Jefferson Highway was an automobile highway stretching through the central United States from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Named for President Thomas Jefferson, inspired by the east–west Lincoln Highway, it was nicknamed the "Palm to Pine Highway", for the varying types of trees found at either end.
The highway was dedicated in Menahga, Minn., in a ceremony attended by the governor of Louisiana, Ruffin G. Pleasant, and motorists who joined the procession along the way. Attendees of the opening ceremony were served blueberries and cream.
The Jefferson Highway follows U.S. Highway 65 in North Iowa, jogs west at Colo to join the Lincoln Highway, then heads south at Ames on U.S. Highway 69.
In 1916 they tried to take existing routes to form an international route. The route actually, in some places, is a gravel road. The reason for placing the cache here is to emphasize that point.
In its earliest days the Jefferson Highway followed paved roads, gravel roads and wagon trails. Unlike modern highways, it wove through every town along its route, including almost every county seat town in the Iowa counties through which it traveled.
The Jefferson Highway Association formed in 1916, disbanding in 1926 when the federal government adopted a numeric system for designating state and federal highways.
The late Hugh Shephard, a Mason City attorney, was instrumental in bringing the Jefferson Highway to North Iowa, heading a meeting in January 1915 during which the road was extended to Mason City and St. Paul, Minn. The highway was registered Sept. 25, 1916.
Shephard was named international president of the original Jefferson Highway Association in 1925.
Mason City will be the host city for the 2020 Jefferson Highway Association annual conference.